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February 25, 2016

Business owners, city officials look to reactivate noise committee

A Portland committee that has been dormant for the past two years could soon be reactivated following a ‘Noise Downtown’ meeting at Portland City Hall earlier in the week.

The city-sanctioned Sound Oversight Committee traditionally only met when a verified noise complaint was received by Portland police, Bob Waitkevitch, who serves on the city-sanctioned Sound Oversight Committee, in addition to owning Fore Play Sports Pub, told The Portland Press Herald.

A verified noise complaint is one that has been filed by more than one party “during a seven-day period or five or more separate complaints in a 30-day period” according to the Press Herald. The provision was established to prevent individual businesses from being purposefully targeted by a single party.

The committee may then choose to impose measurements for noise reduction, which if not followed, may result in the City Council taking additional actions against the business that the verified noise complaint was filed against.

“They haven’t met in two years because they haven’t had any verified complaints,” said Denine Leeman, chairwoman of Portland Downtown’s board of directors, according to the Press Herald.

The agenda of the city hall meeting was the finalization of a number of recommended measurements meant to resolve loud noise disputes following complaints by guests of hotels in the downtown area saying that the 1 a.m. closing time rush from bars in Portland is often accompanied by disruptive noise.

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